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“What should we play, Azula?” Ty Lee was the one who asked the question, despite all 4 of them having already been pondering for the past several minutes, which had felt much too long to the group of children. It was just another day of them playing in the royal courtyard after school; the 2 guests were allowed to stay until their parents eventually picked them up.
The Fire Princess was quiet for only another moment before she stood up tall to announce their next game, “We'll play house. I already decided everyone's roles!”
At her declaration, the two other girls looked up at her curiously, while her older brother folded his arms, much more wary of her suggestion.
“Playing house is for girls though. We should do something else.”
Azula's gold eyes dragged over him slowly, before she shrugged, “If you don’t wanna play Zuzu, you can leave. But we,” she easily gestured her arm at her 2 friends, “are still gonna play house.”
This time Zuko huffed and pouted, but didn't bother to say anything else as he sat on a nearby rock and waited to be assigned his role.
“So! Mai, you get to be the mom; I'm the dad, of course. Then Ty Lee is the big sister, and Zuzu is the baby.”
As soon as Azula presented herself as the dad, Zuko's eyes widened in shock, but as soon as she assigned him to be the baby, he stood up and pointed at her.
“That's not fair! Why would I be the baby? I'm the oldest one here!”
Azula huffed this time. Zuko always did his best to take the fun out of everything. “Well, Zuzu is such a baby name that it fits perfectly.”
“No! I told you to stop calling me that anyway. Besides, I should be the dad!”
At that statement, Azula actually stopped and looked at him perplexed. She walked closer to him, and he took a few steps back to keep their distance, as if nervous about what she would do.
“Zuzu, you can't be the dad. The dad is strong and has to protect everyone. You lost our spar yesterday. Badly.”
Once she brought up his defeat, the Prince's face flushed darkly, and he let out a loud yell of frustration before he turned around and stomped away. “I didn't wanna play your stupid game anyway!”
Azula rolled her eyes as he left, “Boys are so dramatic.”
Mai watched the entire interaction fairly indifferently. To her, she was just going to play the role she was given; she really didn’t care whether Azula or Zuko was the ‘dad’. Though maybe it would be more realistic for it to be him?
“Shouldn't Prince Zuko be the dad because he's a boy?” Ty Lee was the one to ask, and both girls watched as Azula seemed to get a bit annoyed at the question.
“Even if he's a boy, the dad and mom are married. Mai definitely doesn't want to marry someone as dumb as Zuzu, right Mai?”
The girl blinked at the sudden targeted question before she looked away with a shrug. At that, Azula stomped over to stand in front of the other girl with her hands on her hips.
“You're not allowed to like him more than me. Do you understand?” Azula had a sharp way of declaring things that sounded really intimidating, even if she only raised her voice a tiny bit. Mai stayed silent for only a second before she stared back at the princess.
“I don’t want to marry anyone who yells at or tries to scare me.”
Almost as if cowed, Azula backed up quickly and covered her mouth. She was quiet for several moments before lowering her hands with a huff and folding her arms.
“Fine, I won't yell anymore. And I promise, as your husband and the dad, I would raise our kids to be really strong. Way stronger than my brother ever could.”
Mai gave another light shrug, but her eyes were still on the princess, and the tension she held had dropped significantly. “Even if it's a girl?” Her eyes slid over to their other friend (who was quietly waiting for a decision to be made between them) and then back to Azula. “Ty Lee would be our daughter, right? You would make her strong?”
Azula puffed up and nodded surely. “Of course! All our kids will be strong under me, especially the girls!” She grinned at the other girl, who gave a very small smile and then held out her hand.
“That's good then. My mother said girls can't be strong and can only get married and have babies. If you promise our girls can be strong, then we can be married.”
The Fire Princess stepped closer to Mai and nodded while taking her hand, clearly trying to hide her own enthusiasm. “Then it's settled. Ty Lee, you're just the daughter now since you don't have a sibling. We need to find a good spot to pretend it's our palace, okay?”
Ty Lee nodded before running off towards one of the gazebos. Mai went to follow, but Azula slightly tugged her back to make her stay an extra moment.
“If we got married, it wouldn't just be our kids that I would help be strong. I would absolutely help you get strong too.”
Mai's brows furrowed as she stared at the other girl. “Do you mean… for the game?”
Azula shrugged this time before letting go of her hand and walking ahead to follow their other friend. “I think Ty Lee found our palace now; we should go make sure our daughter picked the best one.”
The idea of being strong herself was one Mai entertained very rarely. She was interested, and most times whenever she saw Azula succeed in her firebending, she would have thoughts of becoming just as capable as the Fire Princess… but all the lessons with her mother taught her that her being strong would stay a dream.
But maybe… if she stayed with Azula… It wouldn't have to be that way.